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Internal Quality Audit Puts Aerospace Manufacturer Back on Track
With the help of: CONNSTEP
About
Pursuit Aerospace, headquartered in Manchester, Connecticut, is a global company with 16 locations across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Tunisia. Pursuit Aerospace was formed in 2023 when Paradigm Precision and Whitcraft Group merged to become a leading supplier in the aerospace industry. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Greenbriar Equity Group are the private equity owners of Pursuit. At Pursuit’s East Berlin, CT, facility, its 28 employees manufacture proprietary parts for companies such as Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, General Dynamics Electric Boat, Precision Custom Components LLC, and BAE Systems.
The Challenge
As a defense industry supplier, Pursuit Aerospace needed to remain in compliance with its AS9100D/ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (QMS) certification requirements for 2023. In 2022, Pursuit failed to conduct a crucial component of evaluating QMS compliance, the internal auditing process. This non-compliance posed a significant risk to Pursuit, jeopardizing their operating status and potentially leading to the closure of the facility, resulting in job losses for all employees. Recognizing the critical importance of completing the 2023 internal auditing process, Quality Assurance Manager Carlo Samartano sought outside expertise from CONNSTEP, part of the MEP National Network™.
When I first started at this facility it was in a transition to new ownership so unfortunately some areas, such as internal auditing, were past due. There were also little to no resources available to conduct the audits. Having worked with CONNSTEP at my previous employer, I knew the value in having CONNSTEP cover this critical portion of the standard. CONNSTEP’s service provides objective and effective results without taxing existing or limited internal company resources.
MEP's Role
The scope of the audit was to determine if the East Berlin facility was in compliance with the AS9100D standard requirements, measuring the organization’s QMS effectiveness and providing necessary feedback to Pursuit’s management regarding nonconformities and opportunities for improvement in its QMS implementation. Rachele Brown, CONNSTEP’s quality and compliance consultant, conducted the IQA during several sessions beginning in October 2023. The audit focused on Pursuit’s top-level processes including sales, quality assurance, purchasing, material management, process realization and leadership.
Upon delivery of the findings Pursuit Aerospace’s quality manager was able to create corrective action requests (CARs), detailing root causes, actions to be taken, and validation of the actions. Taking immediate corrective action based on CONNSTEP’s audit findings was critical to Pursuit satisfying compliance requirements both internally and for their subsequent registrar audit.